Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On January 10, 2017, the European Commission announced the final elements of its long-awaited “digital single market” strategy for Europe. The announcement includes two new proposed EU regulations as well as a European Commission Communication, as described below.

On January 3, 2017, Bloomberg Law: Privacy and Data Security reported that Chilean legislators are soon expected to consider a new data protection law (the “Bill”) which would impose new privacy compliance standards and certain enforcement provisions on companies doing business in Chile. 

On January 4, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) announced the final release of NISTIR 8062, An Introduction to Privacy Engineering and Risk Management in Federal Systems. NISTIR 8062 describes the concept of applying systems engineering practices to privacy and sets forth a model for conducting privacy risk assessments on federal systems. According to the NIST, NISTIR 8062 “hardens the way we treat privacy, moving us one step closer to making privacy more science than art.”

On January 3, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued a memorandum (the “Breach Memorandum”) advising federal agencies on how to prepare for and respond to a breach of personally identifiable information (“PII”). The Breach Memorandum, which is intended for each agency’s Senior Agency Official for Privacy (“SAOP”), updates OMB’s breach notification policies and guidelines in accordance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (“FISMA”).

On December 21, 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it had fined 12 financial institutions a total of $14.4 million for improper storage of electronic broker-dealer and customer records. Federal securities law and FINRA rules require that business-related electronic records be kept in “write once, read many” (“WORM”) format, which prevents alteration or destruction. FINRA found that the 12 sanctioned firms had failed to store such records in WORM format, in many cases for extended periods of time.

On December 28, 2016, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced an updated version of its cybersecurity regulation for financial institutions (the “Updated Regulation”). The Updated Regulation will become effective on March 1, 2017.

On December 27, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against three Chinese traders who allegedly made almost $3 million in illegal profits by fraudulently trading on nonpublic information that had been hacked from two New York-based law firms. This is the first action in which the SEC has brought charges in connection with an incident involving hacking into a law firm’s computer network.

On December 21, 2016, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP issued a white paper on Risk, High Risk, Risk Assessments and Data Protection Impact Assessments under the GDPR (the “White Paper”). The White Paper sets forth guidance and recommendations concerning the interpretation and implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation’s (“GDPR's”) provisions relating to risk and risk assessment, which will become applicable on May 25, 2018. While risk assessments already are required under the EU Data Protection Directive, the GDPR broadens the relevance of risk and risk assessment by explicitly and comprehensively incorporating a risk-based approach to data protection.

On December 20, 2016, the FTC announced that it has agreed to settle charges that Turn Inc. (“Turn”), a company that enables commercial brands and ad agencies to target digital advertising to consumers, tracked consumers online even after consumers took steps to opt out of tracking.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China published a draft of the new Notice on Regulating Business Behaviors in the Cloud Service Market (Draft for Public Comments) (the “Draft”) for public comment. The Draft is open for comment until December 24, 2016.